Food mixing machines are commonly utilized by convenience stores, fast food establishments or the like, particularly those that blend condiments or other foods into ice cream in a container for consumption by the customer with a spoon. The blending is typically performed by an agitator carried at the bottom of a rotating shaft. The ice cream and other foods to be blended are provided to the user in a container, and the agitator is positioned in the ice cream to blend the product. After use, the agitator must be cleaned to avoid contamination of the next product to be blended.
In order to avoid the step of cleaning the agitator, disposable plastic agitators have been developed which are placed on the rotating shaft prior to use, and removed from the rotating shaft after use. As a result, the shaft does not need to be cleaned between each usage.
Some of those disposable agitators have been formed in the shape of a spoon. In those devices, the bowl of the spoon mixes the product and the stem of the spoon is hollow and is positioned by the user over at least a portion of the rotatable shaft of the food mixer. The spoon shaft is provided with a clip which is snapped over a rib provided on the rotatable shaft to attach the spoon to the shaft. The product is then blended by the user and the spoon removed from the shaft. This system is advantageous not only because of the saving of time by not having to clean the agitator after each use, but also the spoon can be used by the customer to consume the food thereby saving the establishment the cost of providing a conventional spoon to the customer.
However, if these plastic agitators are attempted to be utilized to mix ice cream or other products which are too hard, as by being too cold, it is possible that when the bowl of the spoon is placed in the ice cream and the agitator rotated, the agitator could break as it is twisted. Such breakage, if left uncontrolled, would occur at a random location along the stem of the spoon which could create sharp or jagged edges along the stem of the spoon. The random breakage could also occur at the bowl of the spoon and could result in small fragments of the bowl of the spoon being disposed in the blended product, or could result with the bowl of the spoon having sharp edges. In either instance, such breakage of the spoon could constitute a potential safety risk to an individual failing to inspect the spoon prior to using it to consume the blended product.
Thus, the need exists to provide a disposable plastic spoon-shaped agitator which, if breakage does occur, will not break randomly but rather will break cleanly at a location easily discerned by the customer.